Larry Hankin
Larry Hankin is an American character actor, comedian, writer, and director who began his performance career as a stand-up comedian and storyteller at Greenwich Village coffee houses in the early 1960s, opening for acts including Woody Allen and Miles Davis. He trained with Viola Spolin and Paul Sills at Second City in Chicago before co-founding The Committee, a San Francisco-based improv troupe, in 1963. The Committee became a cornerstone of the era's alternative comedy movement, and Hankin's improvisational background informed a prolific acting career spanning more than 150 film and television projects.
Recommended Reading
Books are ordered from the strongest direct connection outward to broader relevance.
Something Wonderful Right Away
An Oral History of The Second City and The Compass Players
Jeffrey Sweet
Truth in Comedy
The Manual of Improvisation
Charna Halpern; Del Close; Kim Howard Johnson
The Funniest One in the Room
The Lives and Legends of Del Close
Kim Howard Johnson
Improv Nation
How We Made a Great American Art
Sam Wasson
The Second City Almanac of Improvisation
Anne Libera
Art by Committee
A Guide to Advanced Improvisation
Charna Halpern
References
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Larry Hankin. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/people/larry-hankin
The Improv Archive. "Larry Hankin." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/people/larry-hankin.
The Improv Archive. "Larry Hankin." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/people/larry-hankin. Accessed October 24, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.